This novel takes place in the 1960s, when Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist who isn't respected at her job simply because she's a woman (and an unmarried mother at that); she ends up taking on a new job as an afternoon cooking show host on TV, where she defies all the norms and uses the show to empower her female viewers to stand up against the patriarchy by teaching the chemistry of cooking. Elizabeth is incredibly quirky, but her quirks remind me of someone on the autism / Asperger's spectrum - they seem odd and out of touch, but they're actually quite logical when you stop to think about them. (For example, her dog is named "Six Thirty" because that's the time when she adopted him.) I absolutely loved Elizabeth's personality - she's an inspiring hero to root for - and my only complaint about the book was that there wasn't one central plot point to be resolved, so it meandered a little bit. I still found it hard to put down! "Lessons in Chemistry" is quirky, delightful, and an unexpected breath of fresh air - I highly recommend it.

I'm honestly sad that 1. I finished this book and 2. Supper at Six doesn't actually exist. Lessons in Chemistry was so good and also reminded me of the Amazon tv show the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

The book focuses on Elizabeth Zott, a chemist working in California in the 1950s. She meets and falls in love with another scientist in the research lab and eventually has a baby. Elizabeth also ends up a single mother and is in desperate need of a job (sexism strikes again) and finds herself the host of an afternoon cooking show called Supper at Six. However, because Elizabeth is a scientist before all else the show becomes more of a science class featuring cooking but it becomes unexpectedly popular with their target audience aka housewives. The book deals with some heavy themes including suicide and sexual assault and sexual harassment. There's also a meddling neighbor, a surprisingly smart dog, an unsurprisingly smart four-year-old who reads Faulkner (she's Elizabeth Zott's daughter after all), a stressed-out tv producer, and a mysterious fairy godmother. The book is funny, sad, beautiful and Elizabeth Zott is marvelous. I highly recommend it.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley.

Campy, quirky, loveable, and infuriating all work well to describe this book. Full of men taking credit for women's discoveries or just ignoring and underestimating them and women struggling to be seen and respected for what they bring to the table (and not just the dinner table!). In the middle of all this is a gem of a character in Elizabeth Zott, a chemist but through the course of a series of events ends up hosting a cooking show. Move over Alton Brown's Good Eats because I want to watch Supper at Six!! I was surprised by how far into the book I was before the cooking show even comes in to play, but that is because this story is about so much more than a cooking show. The show is just another example of how ridiculous men viewed women's accomplishments. Elizabeth isn't your classic feminist, she just knows her worth and is going to do all she can to be noticed for it. Like Elizabeth, every other character in the story has been crafted in full color with their own quirks and contributions to the story, even the ones you love to hate. This story will be sure to put a smile on your face and will be a great book for a vacation or stay at home break from reality!

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist; and yes, she is a woman which should be beside the point. She is a very talented chemist, however this is the 1960’s, when it is highly unusual for a woman to be a chemist, or in any science field. Her current boss is a misogynist pig as was her former college professor. All the men in the current lab where she works ignore her unless they need help because even they know she is smarter than they are and they hate her for it.
There is only one other person working at Hastings who is disliked more than she is and that is Calvin Evans. He is the pride and joy of the Hastings Institute; a real Brainiac and his research is the reason Hastings gets a lot of its funding. So, boy and girl collide as atom’s often do and fall madly in love much to the disgust of their workmates. Scandalously they move in together. Remember this is the 1960’s. The gossip about them at work is truly disparaging.
Then a horrible accident happens and Elizabeth’s whole life unravels.

I loved this book. Calvin & Elizabeth are wonderful characters and so much like my husband & I when we were in college. It is sad to think that gender politics was still a problem in the late seventies, but it definitely was. I was pretty much the only woman in my animal science and biochemistry courses. Men, even then were insulting, condescending, and felt they had a right to touch your body … a shoulder massage, a brief rub against a breast while passing you … it still makes me shudder. I did not have the fortitude to continue pursuing my dreams, like Elizabeth Zott. I hope many women feel empowered from reading this book. Feminist? Damn right!

Robyn Heil, Buyer for Brodart Co.

What a unique, quirky and fun book to read!
Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott during the early 1960’s. She is a female chemist and is not well accepted by the men. She should be getting married and having babies because that is what women do. Well, they do not know Elizabeth Zott!
The love story is beautiful and heart wrenching. With a highly intelligent dog and child thrown into the mix, you can not help but love this story.
You must get this book to read! There is so much going on within the story! To even try to give it the review it deserves is impossible.
A true lesson on how strong and determined women can be, could be and should be!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I received an ARC of Lessons In Chemistry and it kept me entertained from start to finish! Chemistry is everything to Elizabeth. It’s life itself but it’s hard to be taken seriously in the male dominated labs of the 50’s. Although at points I literally laughed out loud, there are definitely some serious issues too including a trigger warning just in case that’s not your thing. It’s got a great cast of characters. Six-thirty the dog just might be my favorite.

4 1/2 stars rounded up to 5

What a lovely delight of a book! The perfect Woman's History Month read (though obviously great for any time!), Lessons in chemistry combines intelligence, humor, and passion into an incredible story. Elizabeth Zott is one of my new favorite characters.

She's a chemist in the 1960s who's facing all of the issues you'd expect a female chemist to be facing in the 60s. Despite the fact that she's much smarter and more accomplished than most of them, her male peers do not respect her... nor do other women for that matter. She falls in love with Calvin Evans, perhaps the only other chemist at her level. Tragedy strikes, but Elizabeth's story continues on with her daughter Mad (who is also incredibly intelligent) and their dog Six-Thirty (yes, that's his name and yes, he's also way more intelligent than the average dog).

As a food writer, I really appreciated Elizabeth's stint as a food show host and loved every scene where we saw what she cooked and how she spoke to her audience. There's a lot of heart in this book, but also so many spots where I laughed out loud. It's a unique book, unlike anything I've read before. I can't believe it's the author's debut novel and I truly hope she's working on her next because I'll read anything she writes!

This is a great historical fiction read with themes that easily speak to the hurdles women still have to jump through in order to be "successful". I really enjoyed our main character and her resilience.

An absolutely stunning story of a woman who perseveres through the most horrific of experiences working in a highly misogynistic, patriarchal, society, specifically the field of STEM in the 1960s.

Elizabeth Zott’s story is a reminder of why women are enraged with the toxicity of a patriarchal society, the horrors of what the generation of glass ceiling shattering women had to face, and the importance of continuing to make changes in a much progressed, but still needs a lot of work society.

An enraging, heart breaking, tear inducing, beautiful story.

Elizabeth is a chemist, and a damn good one at that. Not that any of her coworkers or her boss would tell you that of course. In their eyes she is there to grab them coffee, not that it stops them for going to her for help and then pretending they didn’t. When Calvin sees through all their comments and gets to know Elizabeth, the two quickly realize their chemistry is off the charts. they fall madly in love but suddenly Elizabeth finds herself a single mother, fired from her job for being pregnant out of wedlock, and trying to understand this newborn she never planned for. She has to do what she has to do in order to survive so when a cooking show opportunity comes up, Elizabeth decides to mix her love of chemistry with cooking.

This book was infuriating. This book was delightful. Weird to start off with those two sentences right? So let me take a step back. It was infuriating because of the way that Elizabeth was treated in the Science world. Through school, into the workplace, ugh it was all just so anger inducing, though not untrue for the 1960’s. Besides that, this book was an absolute delight. Quirky yet lovable characters, both in Elizabeth and Mad, and even Harriet and Miss Frask. Elizabeth is the woman we all wish we would be if we had been grown woman in the 60’s. She does not let people walk all over her, she is better than that and she knows it. I loved how the different webs of the story all connected, and while chemistry (not my subject) was talked about a lot, it wasn’t too science or over my head! This was not on my radar until Kray and Janine picked it for @notyomamasbookclub and I am so glad they did!

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is a 5 star rated novel! The whit and snappy writing by Garmus is whole-heartly enjoyable and makes the reader crave "just one more chapter" .

Elizabeth Zott, a chemist turned television star is the protagonist of the story and very quickly the audience can see, though she is a male dominated 1960's world, she can hold her own. Her laugh out loud observations on her surroundings make it abundantly clear, Elizabeth is where she belongs and can teach the men in her life a thing or two.

Lessons in Chemistry is such a fun read, and certain to become a best seller in 2022! Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy. Lessons in Chemistry will be published on April 5, 2022.

✨ Review ✨ Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
"Take a moment now to admire your experiment. You've used the elegance of chemical bonding to construct a crust that will both house and enhance the flavor of your constituents."

Elizabeth Zott dared to be a chemist in the late-1950s and early-1960s, and a series of sad and discriminatory actions left her trod open and disrespected. Zott's actions again and again subverted cultural and gender standards of this era, and yet, she continued to stand up for her convictions. She ultimately ended up as the host of a cooking show "Supper at Six," where she taught women cooking skills alongside lessons in chemistry.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: historical fiction / women's fiction
Location: California
Reminds me of: Frederick Backman meets The Maid
Pub Date: April 5, 2022

I LOVED this book - the writing style was so quirky and distinct that it reminded me of Frederick Backman, as well as sometimes The Maid in the ways that Elizabeth Zott could be a bit obtuse (intentionally obtuse I thought). The writing was beautiful and had me hooked in! The stories of Elizabeth's daughter Mad and dog Six-Thirty were so delightful!

I also found this really resonant as a woman in academia - it spoke to the historical context of the 1950s and 1960s and the bravery of women in charting a path forward for female scientists, academics, and more. But it also spoke to women in science and academia today - battling discrimination, lower pay, sexual harassment and assault, belittling behavior, struggles juggling home and family life, and more. This book made me fume in places and laugh in others as I pondered both the progress and lack of change in these fields.

My only two critiques are that 1) the jumps in time or between characters sometimes confused me as I tried to figure out what happened; 2) this is a story that's grounded in white feminism with little intersectional focus...while this reflects the historical moment, it feels like something worth noting.

Read this if you like:
⭕️ The writing of Frederick Backman and The Maid
⭕️ Learning more about women in science
⭕️ Quirky characters and brilliant dogs
⭕️ Stories about found family

Thanks to Doubleday and #netgalley for an advanced digital copy of this book!

This book so far is my favorite read for 2022. I laughed, I cried and cheered for Elizabeth Zott, who unfortunately was born ahead of her time. It's the 1950's and early 60's and she is a brilliant and beautiful research scientist but as a woman she is belittled by her peers for her intellect. She finds love with another lonely brilliant scientist and their love affair is wonderful until something tragic happens. Her life changes dramatically after that and to make ends meet she ends up hosting a cooking show because she is also a good cook yet her unorthodox ways of explaining how to make a meal (by using scientific terminology) and telling her mostly female audience that they are more than just housewives and can do more with themselves outside the confines of their roles as homemakers and mothers sends shockwaves through the men who are in charge of TV programming. They try to stifle her but her cooking program becomes extremely popular. It's a laugh out loud story while offers a sobering view at how intelligent and daring women were treated in those days. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

A must read! Elizabeth Zott, gotta say, is a new hero. A chemist, she fought her way to the Hastings Institute after a troubled childhood and a horrible incident that left her removed from her Phd program. She's clearly brilliant but she's a woman and therefore marginalized, except when her Maile colleagues need help. Calvin Evans is the star of the Institute. Also from a troubled childhood, he's made his way to the top of his field. They meet, they fall in love, they move in together and adopt Six Thirty- a terrific dog. And then there's a tragedy. The unexpected birth of their daughter Mad leads to the first female friendships of her life and ultimately to her new career. How groundsbreaking was it for her to teach chemistry through cooking ? Immensely so and the show engenders both huge fans and a certain amount of animosity until a Life Magazine Profile changes it all. There are so many twists in this absolutely wonderful book-no spoilers! These characters leap off the page. I know some might quibble about a sentient dog and the tone of Elizabeth's voice but it fits, it all fits and it's perfect. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Can't recommend this more highly.

This book was... tricky for me. It's so well rated, but I have to say it just wasn't my type of novel. The way it was broken up was very jarring and just made me feel like I could never get into a good rhythm. The story itself was very unique and honestly interesting, but I just never felt that crazy about the characters. It is in small part a romance, but mostly it's a story about feminism in many forms.

5 Stars
This is an extremely strong and relevant first book by Bonnie Gamus. It takes a look at how things were in the early 60s for women and specifically, women in science. We all know the mansplaining that still happens, well, magnify those moments to all the moments in your workday.

This is what our main character, Elizabeth Zot has to deal with. As a chemist, she understands how things work, so when a situation presents the answer to her needs, she takes this knowledge and uses it in cooking. She creates a TV cooking show and shows how mixing some compounds and how they help the recipes.

She becomes a huge TV star who also is teaching more than cooking to women...she is opening their minds to see things from a different perspective.

Wonderful.

This is such a unique book with wacky characters, an adorable dog (and you all know I’m not a dog person!), a precocious kid and a sweet love story. Elizabeth is so smart and just wants to do her job but sexism is real in her field. A bit of creativity and desperation lead her to her own television cooking show - because cooking is science! I loved the bits of faith and it’s challenges sprinkled throughout the story. Ideas of family and community are strong, perseverance and commitment to being true to yourself, a bit of sadness and a lot of humor, this book is exceptional! And a debut! Can’t wait to see what Bonnie Garmus does next!

I adored this witty, brilliant, sharply-written book! It was unique yet relatable and absolutely perfectly executed. Such a treat!

Elizabeth Zott tries to just be a chemist in the world of 1960's CA but she is hampered at every turn by the fact of her gender. Elizabeth eats, sleeps and breathes chemistry. She meets Calvin-another chemistry genius and the 'chemistry' between the two of them is amazing. Both have troubled pasts and in turn try to support each other's futures. Through a series of events, Elizabeth ends up having to make a name for herself as an on air cooking personality instead of doing chemistry research. It sounds zany and trust me, both the story and the secondary characters are all different levels of zany. I loved this story, I loved the characters, I loved all the metaphors about chemistry, I loved Elizabeth Zott. If I could give this more than 5 stars I would. Even the dog "Siz Thirty" is amazing-he does chemical experiments with Elizabeth with his own set of goggles.
Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review. I'm going to be in a little bit of a book hangover after this one I think.

I’d actually give this book 10 stars!! A beautifully and heartwarming book written about a woman in the 1950s and 1960s trying to make it as a chemist in a male dominated field. She’s a warrior and overcomes all obstacles in her way. This book is fantastic. Thanks for the advanced copy!